restoration

Wadi Hanifah, from dump to natural oasis

November 25, 2010

Wadi Hanifah, from dump to natural oasis

Inspiring story about the 10-year long restoration of the Wadi Hanifah oasis outside Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, via Globeandmail.

“A Canadian planning and architecture firm has won an Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the sweeping transformation of a once-polluted Saudi waterway into a system of parks in the heart of the desert, using a system of bio-remediation.

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La Mexicaine de Perforation, Paris

July 26, 2010

La Mexicaine de Perforation, Paris

These are the only two photographs I could find of a clandestine cinema temporarily located in the Paris Catacombs and accidentally discovered by the police in 2006 while on a training exercise.

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Paris Shoes sold logging boots and ladies shoes to Vancouverites

November 13, 2009

Paris Shoes sold logging boots and ladies shoes to Vancouverites

Paris Shoes at 51 W. Hastings, in Vancouver, possibly 1919. Maybe if shoeboxes still looked this beautifully white you wouldn’t have to have salespeople constantly disappearing into the back. I somehow doubt that the uniform whiteness of this bank of shoe boxes could every happen again, though, and if it did it would be twee rather than pure utility. 

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Donald Judd’s loft at 101 Spring Street

April 25, 2009

Donald Judd’s loft at 101 Spring Street

This is artist Donald Judd’s loft in Soho, maintained as a museum and open for viewing after recent restorations. It was one of the first artist’s lofts in Soho – not to mention in New York – and is now almost the paradigmatic example of loft living.

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